Generally, semiconductor integrated circuit devices are tested when manufacturing the devices, after manufacturing the devices, or when packaging the devices, in order to verify whether the devices are manufactured while the whole or partial electric characteristics of the devices exactly correspond to the original design of the devices.
The equipment for performing the above-mentioned test is probe equipment with a test apparatus and a probe card. The probe card serves to electrically connect a various electrical signals-generating part in the test apparatus and a pad in the semiconductor integrated circuit device, or an electric signal detecting part in the test apparatus and the pad in the semiconductor integrated circuit device.
One of the conventional probe cards is a needle-type probe card, which is shown in FIG. 1a. As shown in FIG. 1b, the needle-type probe card includes needle-type probes 12 each having a bent end. The body of each needle-type probe 12 is disposed on a prescribed position of a ceramic 13, and is then fixedly attached to the ceramic 13 by means of epoxy 14. The ceramic 13 is attached to a main circuit board 11. The other end of the needle-type probe 12 is connected to a prescribed circuit of the main circuit board 11 by means of soldering 15. In this way, the needle-type probe card is prepared. However, the above-mentioned needle-type probe card has a relatively large size or space. Consequently, the needle-type probe card is not suitable to test small-sized electronic elements, which are gradually miniaturized according to the advancement of the technology. Furthermore, there is created interference between the adjacent needle-type probes when needle-type probes are densely disposed on the main circuit board. As a result, there is generated noise when a high-frequency signal is transmitted, and thus an imprecise test is performed.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned drawback of the needle-type probe card, there has been developed a cantilever-type probe card. As shown in FIG. 2a, a bump 23 is formed on the surface of a substrate 22 fixedly attached to a supporting member 21 by means of a connection member 24. To the end of the bump 23 is bonded one end of a supporting beam 25a. The supporting beam 25a is provided at the other end thereof with a probe tip 25b. 
The above-mentioned cantilever-type probe card is manufactured as shown in FIG. 2b. On the surface of a silicon wafer 26 are formed the supporting beam 25a and the probe tip 25b. On the surface of the substrate 22 is formed the bump 23, and epoxy 27 is applied to the upper end of the bump 23. Here, the probe tip 25b and the supporting beam 25a are formed by means of photolithography and plating in order to process the silicon wafer 26. The bump 23 is formed on the surface of the substrate 22 by means of photolithography and plating in order to process the substrate 22. The epoxy 27 is applied to the upper end of the bump 23.
In the silicon wafer 26 and the substrate 22 manufacture as described above, one end of the supporting beam 25a is connected to the upper end of the bump 23, and then the attached supporting beam and the bump are heated to a temperature of approximately 350° C. The supporting beam 25a is fixedly attached to the bump 23, as the epoxy 27 is molten. Subsequently, the silicon wafer is removed by means of etching.
However, the cantilever-type probe card manufactured as described above has the following drawbacks. First, it is difficult to verify with the naked eye, from the outside, whether the probe tip 25b is fixedly attached to the supporting beam 25a in the case that the photolithography and plating method are applied to the silicon wafer 26. As a result, it can be verified whether the probe tip 25b is fixedly attached to the supporting beam 25a only after the process of FIG. 2c is finished. Consequently, defective probe cards may be produced in large quantities.
Second, the material of the substrate is mainly restricted to a ceramic material since the heating is carried out at high temperature, i.e., approximately 350° C., to fixedly attach the bump 23 of the silicon wafer 26 to the supporting beam 25a of the substrate 22. Consequently, the unit production cost of the probe card is increased.
Third, there occurs heat expansion and heat contraction when the substrate 22 and the silicon wafer 26 are heated and cooled. Consequently, positional error is generated by difference of high-temperature heat expansion at the attached parts due to differences of heat expansion coefficients between the silicon wafer 26 and the substrate 22 made of the ceramic, and there occurs a shearing force due to residual stress when the substrate and the silicon wafer are cooled, with the result that separation between the supporting beam 25a and the bump 23 may be caused.
Finally, it is required that different kinds of photolithography be performed on the basis of objects to be tested, which have various arrangements (i.e., arrangements of pads on an element) when the above-mentioned probe card is manufactured. Consequently, compatibility of the probe card depending upon the change of the pad arrangements is poor.